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Livejournal is creepy

January 2008

Anime and me

mood: weird

Only half a year after my last entry, i decided to write again.Mostly because i wrote some comments lately and now feel sorry for my own livejournal. First i make a big fuss about being afraid of the fangirls/boys on livejournal and finally giving in... and then i completely ignore it. This storyline is so fraking lame, you could think my writers are on strike.

So... as i started watching "Avatar - The Last Airbender" lately, because childrens shows are the last stronghold of intelligence in TV, i thought, i could talk about Anime. Especially because hardcore Anime-Fans would cut my throat for saying "Avatar" is an Anime. Yeah, it's not. It's an american made Cartoon. And i agree, because most Animes are boring shit and i actually like "Avatar".

Back in 96-97, me and my friends were watching "Sailor Moon" on german TV. It was the first Anime really branded as "Anime". We had Heidi, Captain Future, Saber Riders and all that stuff before, but it was just "cartoons", not really associated with its japanese origin. "Sailor Moon" was the starting point for the huge Anime&Manga-Wave in Germany to come. And me, a 15-year-old Nerd, liked seeing girls in mini-skirts fighting monsters and shortly after that i discovered what "hentai" meant.

There weren't many Mangas out in Germany back then, it was quite easy to buy everything available. There was some Shirow-Stuff like "Appleseed" and classics like "Akira". After the success of "Sailor Moon" they started with "Dragonball", "Ranma", "Gunsmith Cats" and other big names. I was still in, reading everything and even going to some of the early Fan-Meetings with my friends. But the "underground" soon became Mainstream and the published Mangas and shows on TV grew exponentially. And i realized, most of it was crap. I was getting older too, but i still see the quality of the older stuff, which introduced me to the scene, compared with the brainless shows that came after that.

My last love for a long time was "Neon Genesis Evangelion", which showed my affinity for "shows i don't fully understand". It was a great Mindfuck in 20+ parts and so much cooler than seeing Son-Goku fighting a 10-Minute-Fight, stretched into 20 Episodes. Some of my friends stayed with the fandom, buying all the shitty Mangas and getting the "hot new fan-subbed shows straight from Japan". So i could keep track, what seems like good shows. There weren't many. There actually was only one: "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex", a show i didn't fully understand and therefore liked. Often my friends would give me DVDs with stuff they liked and thought i could like too. Most of the time i couldn't stand more than 1 or 2 episodes. I even tried the famous "Naruto". Hell, what a boring show...

Some weeks ago i finally saw some uploaded episodes of "Avatar" on Youtube and watched it. Clearly aimed at (american) children but with an amazing care for elaborated characters and a foreign looking cultural environment. No character stereotypes and braindead storylines like in most Animes. It's like Tom Cruise in "Last Samurai": Thousands of years of Samurai history, but it needs a fraking American to master it. The creators of "Avatar" adapted to the Anime-Style and made something far more entertaining, even for me. And so i'm back watching cartoons. That look like Animes.

If i would have posted that for a wider audience than just the 4 people in my friendlist, i am sure, that would be some good Flame-Bait. For the people who care, i murdered some holy cows there, i think.

Re: May I borrow your 'lol suicide' icon?

so, I'm a fanboy-friend?

Yeah, I stayed with the manga and anime - i like it - but there are less and less interesting manga published in Germany. For anime: yes I get all the fresh series from japan - there are indeed some pearls between the crap. from time to time. most is watchable, entertaining, after-work brain-easer.

Nusa, if you want a series you won't understand try "Serial Experiment Lain". Remind me to bring you a DVD :-)